Old/New Testament

Trouble for Judah and Jerusalem

3 Listen to this! I will show you what the Lord, the Almighty Lord, will do. He will remove from Jerusalem and Judah everything that people trust to help them. He will take away even their food and their water.

² He will take away

⁴ The Lord says, ‘I will cause boys to become their leaders who will rule them badly. ⁵ People will be cruel to each other. Men will argue against one another and neighbours will fight each other. Young people will insult older people. And useless people will speak against people that they should respect.

⁶ A man will go to his father's house and he will take hold of his brother. The man will say to him, “Look, you have a coat. So you should be our leader! You can rule over the few buildings that remain in our city!”

⁷ But the brother will refuse. He will say, “I cannot make things any better! There is no food or clothes in my house. Do not choose me as a leader of people.” ’

⁸ Jerusalem is falling down! The towns of Judah are in trouble! The Lord hates the things that their people say and the things that they do. They have turned against the Lord and they insult him.

⁹ Their proud faces show that they are guilty. Their sins are as bad as the sins of Sodom's people. And they do not try to hide it! It will be very bad for them! They have caused great trouble for themselves.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous people that they are in a good place. They will enjoy the results of the good things that they have done. ¹¹ But it will be very bad for the wicked people. They will receive the punishment that they deserve.

¹² Now children are cruel to my people and women rule over them. My people, your leaders lead you in the wrong direction. They cannot show you what is right.

¹³ The Lord stands up to judge his people. He will decide how to punish them. ¹⁴ He comes to judge the leaders and rulers of his people. He says to them, ‘You have destroyed my vineyard. You have robbed the poor people and you have stored their things in your own houses.

¹⁵ What are you leaders doing? You should not hurt my people. You should not be cruel to the poor people, as if you are pushing their faces into the dirt.’

The Lord Almighty has said this.

The Lord warns Jerusalem's women

¹⁶ The Lord says, ‘Zion's women are very proud. They walk with their heads up high. They turn their eyes towards the men and they have no shame. They like the men to look at them. They walk with small steps so that the rings on their ankles make a nice sound. ¹⁷ Because of that, the Lord God will give them sores on their heads. Those beautiful women will be bald!’

^18-23 On that day, the Lord God will take away the beautiful rings that they wear on their ankles. He will remove all the valuable rings and bright stones that they wear on their heads, their necks, their ears, their arms, their fingers and their noses. He will take away their beautiful clothes, their belts, their perfumes and their magic rings.

²⁴ Instead of a nice smell of perfume, there will be a smell of dead animals. Instead of a beautiful belt, they will tie a rope round themselves. Instead of lovely hair, they will be bald. They will wear rough sackcloth instead of beautiful dresses. They will have the mark of a prisoner on their skin, instead of beauty.

²⁵ The men of your city will die in war. Yes, your strong brave men will die in battle.

²⁶ The city's gates will see all this and they will weep! The city will be empty. Zion will be like a poor woman who sits on the ground, completely alone.

4 In that day, seven women will catch one man and they will hold him. They will say, ‘Please take away our shame. We will buy our own food and we will wear our own clothes. But please, let us belong to you.’

Good news

² In that day, the branch of the Lord will be great and beautiful. The land will give fruit and crops. Those people who remain in Israel will be proud and happy because of the food that the land supplies. ³ Everyone who remains in Zion and Jerusalem will be called holy. All their names will be on a list of Jerusalem's people who live there. ⁴ At that time, the Lord God will wash away the dirt from Zion's women. He will make Jerusalem clean from the blood that murderers have left. He will do that as judge, and he will punish people as with fire. ⁵ The Lord himself will be above all of Mount Zion, and over all the people who meet together there. There will be cloud and smoke over them during the day. There will be bright flames of fire at night. The Lord's glory will cover over them all. ⁶ During the day, it will give people shade from the sun's heat. It will also keep them safe from storms and heavy rain.

Be kind and good to each other

6 My friends, if you see that someone among you is doing a wrong thing, you must warn that person. Those of you who have help from God's Spirit should tell that person how to live in a good way. But you must be patient and respect him. Be very careful yourselves, so that you do not also want to do wrong things. ² When anyone among you has troubles, you must help each other. If you do that, you will be obeying Christ's rule.^{[a] 3} You must not think that you are too important to help other people. If you are not really so important, you are thinking a false thought. ⁴ Everyone should think carefully about the things that they themselves do. If those things are good, that is a reason to be proud. A person like that does not need to think about whether he is better than anyone else. ⁵ Each person must live in a way that they know is right for them.

⁶ Everyone who is learning about God's message from a teacher should help his teacher. The student should share all the good things that he has with his teacher.

⁷ Nobody can hide the things that he does from God. Do not think a false thought like that! It is like a farmer who plants seeds in his field. The same kind of crops will grow as the seeds which he plants. That will be his harvest. ⁸ A person may do things only to make himself happy. That person's harvest will be God's punishment and death. Or a person may do the things that God's Spirit wants. That person will receive a harvest from God's Spirit. The harvest will be life with God for ever. ⁹ We must continue to do things that are good and we should not get tired. If we do not feel weak and stop doing good things, then we will receive a good harvest at the proper time.

¹⁰ Because of all that, we must help everyone when we have the chance. Certainly we must do good things to help our friends who believe in Christ, as we do.

Paul finishes his letter

¹¹ Now I am writing these last words to you myself. You can see how large the letters are, when I write them with my own hand!

¹² Do not agree with those people who want to make you obey the Jewish rules. They say that you must let someone circumcise you. They want other people to think that they are important. They do not want to receive any trouble from others. They are afraid to teach that Christ's death on the cross is enough to save us. ¹³ Even those men that someone has circumcised do not obey all the Jewish rules. They want to circumcise you only to make themselves seem important. They want to show that they have authority over your bodies. ¹⁴ But I do not want to say any great things about myself. The only thing that makes me great is our Lord Jesus Christ's death on the cross. Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, it is like I have also died. The things that belong to this world have become dead to me, and I have become dead to them. ¹⁵ It does not matter whether anyone has circumcised you or not. What matters is that God has made you a new person.

¹⁶ I pray that God will bless everyone who lives by that rule. I pray that God will give them peace in their minds and that he will be kind to them. I pray this for all who belong to God's true people.

¹⁷ I want to receive no more trouble from anyone after this. The marks on my body show that I am Jesus' servant.

¹⁸ My Christian friends, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that he will help you in your spirits. Amen. This is true!